Mexico

In april 2014 I stayed on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico for a short period. To hunt for spiders I just had one weekend within the area shown in the following map:

Furthermore it was dry season and at this point of the year tarantulas hide themselves in their burrow to gueard their eggs and don`t come out at night. Best season on the Yucatan Peninsula to look for spiders is from August when rainy season starts.

I stayed for the weekend near Tulum which is known for its Maya Ruins directly at the sea.

The area of the ruins is full of an Iguana species

And in Cactus trees it is possible to find an Argiope sp.

I stayed a good place near Tulum to look for arachnids at night and even though I was unlucky with tarantulas because of the reasons mentioned above I found some interesting animals.

Here is the ground living nocturnal Coleonyx elegans

I was also able to see snakes ( Imantodes sp. )

As I was walking around with an UV torch it was quite easy to find scorpions. Centruroides cf. nigrescens was the most common an largest one

Here is a Centruroides cf nigrescens female hunting at night

Another possibly Centruroides sp. which was much smaller I was able to find on trees. Also here UV light was very helpful as this species was well camouflaged

At trees this species of spider which reminded me a bit of a Loxoceles sp. was quite common

Also Acanthoctenus sp. hunted on trees at night

Amblypygi share the same Habitat

The days I visited the ruins of Ek Balam and Coba. Here I was able to find Brachypelma epicureanum below some of the many rocks laying around.

Ek Balam

Spiderlings of Brachypelma epicureanum in their habitat

A larger speciman of Brachypelma epicureanum I found by coincidence between some rocks. The spider was almost dead

For more information on Mexican Tarantulas within their Habitat I recommend the following page: